We've heard that women's interest in sex tends to decline over the course of a relationship, but now a study shows that most married women still think sex is an important part of their marriage. And some of the things they do to keep things lively are somewhat bizarre.

According to USA Today, a study of 1,001 women between 18 and 49 found that a full 75% of them thought a good sex life was "very or extremely important" to their marriage. You mean women still think about sex after they've snagged a husband? Shocking! Also interesting are womens' reasons for not having as much sex as they'd like: the top two were stress (50% of women said this was a problem) and exhaustion (49%). Then came kids (39%) and "lack of romance" (34%). Only 14% of women said they had less sex than they wanted because they weren't as attracted to their spouses anymore. This should be good news for people worried their spouse's declining libido is a judgment on their hotness, and it also suggests a potential cure for a struggling sex life — sleep and relaxation. That may be why so many people say their husband doing chores gets them in the mood — it's not that vacuuming is inherently sexy, but more that it gives the non-vacuumer a chance to take a nap.

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Beyond helping around the house, couples had a few other ideas for spicing up their marriages, some of them kind of interesting. The most popular was kissing in public (pretty tame), followed by buying sexy lingerie (still soft-core) and using sex toys (a great idea as far as we're concerned). Then there was "pinched/spanked playfully in public," which 33% of women surveyed had apparently turned to in an effort to rekindle lust. This suggest that a relatively large number of marriage people are spanking one another while out together — how have I missed this phenomenon? Whatever works, I guess — although some of the other strategies sound more fun. My favorite: "late to work/appointment because you were having sex."